1/20: False Idol?

[Al Lutz]

Kevin wonders just how real the American Idol competition is, and has a quick Epcot update. Discuss it all here...

DIRECT ARTICLE LINK: MiceAge.com - A different look at Disney...

[jane2073]

The whole "We're Live" aspect would totally be doable if they were broadcasting it on the internet. It wouldn't be that expensive. They could just have a wesite that broadcasts Coca Cola and American Idol commercials and seven to eight (including the finale) times a day broadcasts the contests. That actually might draw more people in to see the show.

[s8film40]

I surprisingly enjoyed the show I saw but felt the same way. Most of the performers were really good but they were all cast members, this made for a great show because they all seemed pretty care free and the interaction between them and the judges was hilarious. I am kinda wondering how it will be when you get some people in there who actually care about winning. By the way if you didn't already believe this was just an elaborate karaoke show turn around and look at the back of the theatre during a contestants performance.

[tloolgb]

You have to realize you saw it during a soft preview. A test & adjust. You know how it goes. How can they test the 7-person finale shows without 7 people?
Therefore if they only ran 4 shows, then yes, they had to add 3 people.

This isn't just idol (er, idle) musings; it actively matters just how much of the finale show was staged.

Calling it "false Idol" because of this isn't right. They have to do a run through with 7 people. Try it when it reopens, the winners from the shows have to make the finale.

Go see it when it reopens and try it again.

However...I agree. The Jordin Sparks song is horrid...and falls flat completely. They could cut that from the show and we'd all benefit I think.

[daliseurat]

This show never seemed like a good idea. Your point regarding repeatability is dead on. If I'm going to hear bad karaoke, I'm probably not going back again. But if I can hear some talented singer entertain me differently each time, I might. The entire thing will live or die based on people wanting to be part of it. On the one hand, here is OUR opportunity to be a PART OF THE DISNEY MAGIC for a day. And opportunity to be part of AMERICAN IDOL. On the other hand, maybe we stink and are just a sad joke. I know my daughter will want to see the show. I might audition for kicks, heck, if I got on no matter how I did it would be a HUGE BLAST. For me. Not for the guests.

Sounds like they've got things working okay, but until it's really using just the guests, who knows?

[sir clinksalot]

No offense, but for the first time in awhile, I skipped most of your update.

Even though we watch "Idol" I don't think it has any place in DHS and don't care about the show in the least. But I"m sure it's a great review.

As for the other stuff, I agree, somewhere nice and comfy to just relax for awhile would be great. Which is why you will find alot of MC meets at the Hearthstone at GCH.

[Mikado]

The descent of Spaceship Earth really needs attention, so I can only hope there is some truth to those rumors. They gutted an appropriate conclusion to the ride experience, removed much of anything interesting visually - including a driving soundtrack so often missing from more recent Disney attractions - from the descent, only to substitute a 'flash video' gimmick.

You have to wonder exactly who thought this would be an enhancement over the 'glittering cityscape', Spaceship earth model, and other elements - like the music, again - of the previous attraction. Are these the same people who (reportedly) actually thought Journey into Your Imagination (the version without Figment) was an improvement over the original attraction?

As for the broadcasting of Idol, wonder if it wouldn't be almost simple to at least broadcast the show to the WDW resorts? At least the 'fake' TV show elements wouldn't be fake anymore. Indeed, it is going to be a different experience, and possibly rather different results than Disney intended, if the show ends up being populated with guests who came to the studios primarily to perform, rather than selecting from the more talented members of the 32,000 'regular' daily guests.

[s8film40]

Originally Posted by Mikado

As for the broadcasting of Idol, wonder if it wouldn't be almost simple to at least broadcast the show to the WDW resorts? At least the 'fake' TV show elements wouldn't be fake anymore. Indeed, it is going to be a different experience, and possibly rather different results than Disney intended, if the show ends up being populated with guests who came to the studios primarily to perform, rather than selecting from the more talented members of the 32,000 'regular' daily guests.

Thats a really neat idea. They could easily add it to the resort TV it could have it's own dedicated channel. They could air it live during the day and it would help to draw people to the show. Then at night they could show reruns from the day and people who participated could go to their resort that night and watch themeselves on TV it would really add to the experience.

[danyoung]

I've been a big fan of Idol for the past 4 years or so. And as always I'm willing to give Disney a chance to get this show up and running before making any judgement. But I'm skeptical about the quality of talent available. Consider - the real Idol will audition maybe 10,000 people in any given day, out of which they'll find maybe 20 people to send to Hollywood. And these are people who have specifically come from all over the country to audition. Now, with a theme park crowd and far less than 10,000 auditioning, what are the odds that they're going to find that many quality singers? I'm afraid that it's going to be an extremely well produced karaoke show. It might still be fun, but I can't see much repeat value. Still, I'll wait & see . . .

[almandot]

Any bets that discussion of using Tomorrow's Child came from the positive attention the same execs received after using that theme on the impromptu fan-driven 25th anniversary day? =P

[GrumpyFan]

I'm a little surprised that they don't have videos/songs of some of the other AI winners from the past. Clay Aiken (sp?), Ruben Studdard, Taylor Hicks, Chris Daughtry, were none of these shown?

I've wondered similar thoughts as what Kevin wrote about here. What happens when the talent pool for the day is low? It could make for some potentially bad shows for the day. The un-predictability from show to show will give it the uniqueness to help with the repeatability factor, but will it be enough to overcome bad shows? I am a fan of the TV show, and find myself bored with watching it when they don't have any good performers. Of course, they make up for it sometimes by showing the really bad singers, I have to wonder if any of these will make it.

[KevinYee]

Clay was conspicuously absent. The others you mention were shown in videos at various points, or invoked by name. (I think. I'm not a TV show fan, so I could be wrong). The absence of Clay is what I think made me subconsciously think they are doing a little social engineering with their selections here (and why the, er, exuberant woman in my show didn't advance to the finals. maybe.)

[twobluestripes]

I expect that once the ad campaign gets out for this, you will have an influx of a lot more talented singers showing up for this attraction, especially people with annual passes.

There are a lot of people out there who are technically skilled singers and who love to perform, but have no desire to actually go on the real American Idol or cut a record deal. There are also those out there who seek a professional career in singing and are going to school for it. I have a feeling that they will flock to this attraction for the chance to compete and get the stage experience, and it's possible that people looking to hire singers (record labels, music schools, etc) will start to attend looking for talented people.
With the right advertising, this has the potential to really get off the ground, and not just because the nation loves American Idol and has a pipe dream of being famous. This could become something of a showcase for people who either want to sing for real as a career, or people who love to sing as a hobby and are GOOD.

If this show comes to Anaheim (don't know how I feel about that yet. Muppet 3d isn't exactly my favorite, so we've got room I guess), I think it would be even bigger! This would be due to the amount of people with APs as compared to Florida, and they can just pop into the parks for this attraction only. There are a huge amount of talented college students in the area (Irvine is huge and has a booming musical theatre program; my school Chapman has an outstanding classical music conservatory) who would get up there and compete until they win.

These are not the people you see on TV on American Idol generally, they are people who want a full education in music and have probably been studying voice all their lives and might be persuing a career as an Opera or Broadway performer. They would not seem out of key or amateur (in all likelihood they would be as good as any professional singer in a Disney theme park, or better), and you could potentially have a finale show with 7 experienced singers similar to the 3 amazing ones Kevin saw. Pit them against undeveloped, uneducated, raw-talent voices of people who sing casually but have the pipes to be great and a dream to be a famous pop-star (like on the TV show), and the attraction could get downright thrilling.

I don't know how many people/students like this would be in the area in Florida, but I think it has incredible potential to be huge there. I think people would buy an AP if they are near enough, just to compete in this regularly. I would guess that the winners will start to be not just random tourists who stumble in, but people who know about the attraction and are seeking it out.

Perhaps they are perfecting the formula there and we may see it come to California in the future? I don't know if I'd like it, but I think it would just explode through the roof!

[KevinYee]

Just got an email:

Yes, they have been using ringers in the finale shows. In fact, last week they even paid local singers to perform in the show. I know this for a fact since my roommate was one of those getting paid.

Now, if they disclosed this, that would be allright. But they let the audience assume that the singers on the stage are guests in the park who just happened to audition for the show that day.

But I am with you. We will have to wait and see once the show opens for real with regualr park guests before we can really judge it honestly.

[sir clinksalot]

Interesting. I don't think Disney could be so clueless as to think that it won't get out if they are using ringers after the show officially opens.